Presentation ideas

You may have a nice image, let’s say a lovely flower close-up or a songbird, but somehow it is only a nicely photographed specimen. You feel that something is missing. That is the time when experimenting with various presentation ideas may become a fun project. One of my favourite alteration is introducing a white vignette or a key line or both together, that directs more emphasis onto the main subject.

Our digital tool chest provides a huge number of possibilities to change the look and feel of our photographs. A word of caution though, be very conservative. Do not go overboard with effects, a good photograph can be easily ruined by too much digital trickery. Less is often more effective and will add an extra dimension to your display image.

I enclose three images here just as basic ideas.

This photo of a Cape May Warbler is a nice static image of the bird, it probably would look nice in a bird book. However, as a large print on the wall it may not be too interesting.

Adding a fade away white vignette and a dark key-line to the image brings the viewer’s focus more to the bird. A large print nicely framed can decorate one’s office or living room.

The image of this female American Redstart is similarly presented as the Cape May Warbler above. However, due to the different background that had a natural fading away at the edges I didn’t use a white vignette. This background called for a light key-line.